snelling



P. H. SNELUNG.-

Car Coupling.

Patented July 30.1867.

Witnesses: Inventor:

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P, H; SNELLING, OF WARTRACE, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JAMES N'UTT, OF SAME PLACE.

Letters .lalent No. 67,367, dated July 30, 1867.

IMPROVED UAR-GOUHJNG.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, P. H. SNELLING,'of Wartrace, in the county of Bedford, and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement on Railroad-Car Couplings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, and in which Figure 1 represents alongitudinalseetion of'my improved'coupling as applied to a car or cars; and

Figure 3, aside view of said coupling in connection with the draw-heads of adjacent cars.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

My improvement has reference to that description of car-couplings which are automatic in their character and dispense with the personal risk attendant upon going between the cars to release or establish the connection. The nature of myinvention in this connection consists in a novel combination of a spring-borne plunger within the draw-head of a car, having a lip-projection in front and stirrup pivoted to the outside of the drawhead and connected with the pin that serves to lock and release the coupling-link essentially as hereinafter described.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, A A are the car draw-heads made hollow so as to receive within them a longitudinally sliding plunger or bolt,.]3, forced outward by a spring, a, and arrested in its forward movement by a set-screw, 6, working in or along a slot, 0, andwhich bolt has an upper lip construction or projection, ll, given to it at its forward end that serves to hold the link 0 from drooping when the coupling is only half established by the passage through the link of one of the coupling-pins D, the spring pressure of the bolt B acting-in concert with the lip d to hold up the link, and the construction generally favoring the use of either straight or crook-shaped links, said bolt B also serving, in conjunction with an outside stirrup, E, to hold the coupling-pin D in place.' This outside stirrup is pivoted in its rear to either side of the draw-head, as at e, and connected with the coupling-pin D at its outer or upper end, andwhen said pin is raised to release'the coupling, arrested in its upward movement by a stop or pin or pins g. For passenger or platform cars thecou'pling-pin D'may be provided with a ring on its head, but for box or freight cars a rod may be substituted, the same being fastened or hooked to the pin and running to the top of the car,

It will be obvious from this description, and by reference to the accompanying drawing, that the coupling link, though a separate attachment, is firmly held up or in place while running the cars together, and that in effecting the coupling it forces in the plunger 13, which allows of the locking-pin D to fall and establish the connection, and that the uncoupling may he elfected by, drawing on the pin D from above without going in between the cars; likewise that the coupling-pin D is at all times firmly held and guided to its work.

What I here claim, and desire'to secure by Letters Patent, isp The combination of the spring-pressed plunger B within the draw-head, having an upper projection or lip, (Z, in front, coupling-pin D, and stirrup E, all for operation relatively to and in connection with thefconplinglink, substantially as specified.

- P. H. SNELLING.

Witnesses MARTIN Gnnnss, Tues. HART. 

